While Marcus Freeman hasn't named the starting quarterback for the Notre Dame football team, most analysts believe CJ Carr is the guy. That's why JD Pickell has moved past will he or won't he be the starter and has moved onto "what will the Irish get from CJ Carr in 2025?"
The On3 analyst talked in a recent podcast about just how good the Fighting Irish offense can be. He pointed out he's talked about that before, ad nauseum, especially when it comes to Will Pauling and Malachi Fields at wide receiver and Jeremiyah Love at running back. Now the focus is whether Carr (or whoever is the quarterback) can really unlock things.
CJ Carr’s week-to-week steadiness viewed as trigger for Notre Dame football attack
"I don't really question what CJ Carr is throwing the football downfield so much as I question how long does it take to reach cruising altitude as the guy at Notre Dame," Pickell said. "How often are you getting the consistent product from him every single week?"
Notre Dame is going from In-N-Out to Cook Out on offensehttps://t.co/0Z8kZfKg1L pic.twitter.com/PEnQ6VBHS8
— J.D. PicKell (@jdpickell) July 26, 2025
"Do I get one CJ Carr against Miami and a different guy against [Texas] A&M and a different guy when you play USC, or is it like, no relative to one standard deviation, you're getting the same CJ Carr every single week."
Pickell went on to say that if Notre Dame football offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock is getting the same CJ Carr every single week, then he will be able to game plan the same way every week and unlock the offense.
The analyst added that he didn't think the Fighting Irish saw that in 2024.
"I think it took Notre Dame a while to find out who they were offensively with Riley Leonard, like I think we saw a different offensive approach from them in November than we did in September, very, very clearly. So can CJ Carr unlock it all and be consistent enough to unlock it all."
If the Notre Dame football team is certain that CJ Carr is the guy and he can handle the game plan from Week 1 and look the part, the Fighting Irish offense could end up being one of the best in the country.